TracGunny
09-14-04, 10:04 AM
Today, 14 Sept '04, is POW-MIA Recognition day! Normally the third Friday in September, it was moved just for this year so as not to coincide with Rosh Hashanah - TG
Last modified Tue., September 14, 2004 - 01:23 AM Originally created Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Orange Park woman pushed flag creation for POW-MIAs
First banner ever made hangs on door in hope of return of Navy pilot husband's remains.
By GREGORY PIATT
The Times-Union
They flap above union halls, American Legion posts and on occasion above the White House. These black standards with the submissive head bow of a prisoner of war are no Jolly Rogers, but flags that offer hope for when POWs and soldiers missing in action come home again.
The first POW-MIA banner ever made hangs on the door of an Orange Park home and symbolizes the hope that Lt. Cmdr. Michael Hoff will come home again. The flag has faded some, a small price from the sun's rays rising to greet Mary Helen Hoff's hope standard for more than 30 years.
"I never stopped thinking he wasn't coming home," said Hoff, whose husband was a Navy pilot, shot down over Laos in 1970 and listed by the Pentagon as missing in action in 1973. "I know he isn't coming home alive, but I never stopped thinking he wasn't coming home."
Hoff, 73, will think about her husband today, which is designated POW-MIA Recognition Day. The day is typically observed on the third Friday of September but the Pentagon moved it this year out of respect for the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashana, according to a Defense Department Web site.
Hoff put a bowed face on the National League of POW-MIA Families during the Vietnam War with a flag. Her idea began when she read a story in the Times-Union in 1971 about an American company tasked with making the flag for the People's Republic of China when the Communist nation had just joined the United Nations.
This was the Cold War era and anti-communism was a government policy, but it was Annin & Co.'s policy to provide flags to member states of the world body.
Hoff contacted Norman Rivkees, the company's vice president, and found him sympathetic to the POW-MIA issue. Rivkees and the company created a design based on Hoff's idea.
"I told them it had to black and white," she said in a phone interview Friday. "There were others who wanted other colors but I told them it had to be a stark reminder."
The company first came up with banners, like the one that hangs at the Hoff home. Later, flags became the popular standard for POW-MIAs all across the country, Hoff said.
In 1990, Congress recognized the POW-MIA flag and designated it "as the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in South Asia, thus ending the the uncertainty for their families and the Nation."
The black flag has flown over the White House and hangs in the Capitol Rotunda. In 1998, Congress passed another law designating the flag to be flown on Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, POW-MIA Recognition Day and Veterans Day.
Hoff plans to attend a POW-MIA ceremony Friday at Jacksonville Naval Air Station. The Navy installation received notification of the change of observance from the Pentagon on Friday, too late to change the planned ceremony at All Saints Chapel on the base. Friday's 10 a.m. ceremony is open to those who have a military identification card.
Delegations have gone four times to Laos to find Michael Hoff's remains. Mary Helen, four sons and a daughter eventually learned in the early 1990s he died, possibly after parachuting from his plane, and that villagers sold many of his effects. None of his remains were found but one of the delegations did obtain his flight suit, Hoff said. Once the U.S. government declares her husband officially dead, she hopes to get the flight suit, she said.
"At least I will have something to bury," said Hoff, who still wears the POW-MIA bracelet made popular during the Vietnam War that bears her husband's name.
Ceremony
Vietnam Veterans and Legacy Veterans Motorcycle Club will hold a ceremony honoring POW-MIA soldiers at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at its headquarters, 15180 Normandy Blvd. The free ceremony is open to the public and will feature the world's largest POW-MIA flag.
greg.piatt@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4169
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/091404/met_16635964.shtml
Last modified Tue., September 14, 2004 - 01:23 AM Originally created Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Orange Park woman pushed flag creation for POW-MIAs
First banner ever made hangs on door in hope of return of Navy pilot husband's remains.
By GREGORY PIATT
The Times-Union
They flap above union halls, American Legion posts and on occasion above the White House. These black standards with the submissive head bow of a prisoner of war are no Jolly Rogers, but flags that offer hope for when POWs and soldiers missing in action come home again.
The first POW-MIA banner ever made hangs on the door of an Orange Park home and symbolizes the hope that Lt. Cmdr. Michael Hoff will come home again. The flag has faded some, a small price from the sun's rays rising to greet Mary Helen Hoff's hope standard for more than 30 years.
"I never stopped thinking he wasn't coming home," said Hoff, whose husband was a Navy pilot, shot down over Laos in 1970 and listed by the Pentagon as missing in action in 1973. "I know he isn't coming home alive, but I never stopped thinking he wasn't coming home."
Hoff, 73, will think about her husband today, which is designated POW-MIA Recognition Day. The day is typically observed on the third Friday of September but the Pentagon moved it this year out of respect for the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashana, according to a Defense Department Web site.
Hoff put a bowed face on the National League of POW-MIA Families during the Vietnam War with a flag. Her idea began when she read a story in the Times-Union in 1971 about an American company tasked with making the flag for the People's Republic of China when the Communist nation had just joined the United Nations.
This was the Cold War era and anti-communism was a government policy, but it was Annin & Co.'s policy to provide flags to member states of the world body.
Hoff contacted Norman Rivkees, the company's vice president, and found him sympathetic to the POW-MIA issue. Rivkees and the company created a design based on Hoff's idea.
"I told them it had to black and white," she said in a phone interview Friday. "There were others who wanted other colors but I told them it had to be a stark reminder."
The company first came up with banners, like the one that hangs at the Hoff home. Later, flags became the popular standard for POW-MIAs all across the country, Hoff said.
In 1990, Congress recognized the POW-MIA flag and designated it "as the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in South Asia, thus ending the the uncertainty for their families and the Nation."
The black flag has flown over the White House and hangs in the Capitol Rotunda. In 1998, Congress passed another law designating the flag to be flown on Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, POW-MIA Recognition Day and Veterans Day.
Hoff plans to attend a POW-MIA ceremony Friday at Jacksonville Naval Air Station. The Navy installation received notification of the change of observance from the Pentagon on Friday, too late to change the planned ceremony at All Saints Chapel on the base. Friday's 10 a.m. ceremony is open to those who have a military identification card.
Delegations have gone four times to Laos to find Michael Hoff's remains. Mary Helen, four sons and a daughter eventually learned in the early 1990s he died, possibly after parachuting from his plane, and that villagers sold many of his effects. None of his remains were found but one of the delegations did obtain his flight suit, Hoff said. Once the U.S. government declares her husband officially dead, she hopes to get the flight suit, she said.
"At least I will have something to bury," said Hoff, who still wears the POW-MIA bracelet made popular during the Vietnam War that bears her husband's name.
Ceremony
Vietnam Veterans and Legacy Veterans Motorcycle Club will hold a ceremony honoring POW-MIA soldiers at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at its headquarters, 15180 Normandy Blvd. The free ceremony is open to the public and will feature the world's largest POW-MIA flag.
greg.piatt@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4169
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/091404/met_16635964.shtml